Why Meghan?

Evelyn.  Catherine.  Isla.  Adelaide.  Meghan. 

Names leading the way throughout the process of naming our girl. This time around choosing a name for our second daughter proved far more difficult than we imagined. Almost everything we liked the first time around, wasn’t a great option this time.

We did a similar post on Elizabeth’s name and I thought it would be nice to have a similar post for Meghan.

We are very aware that once upon a time, not so long ago, Megan was a VERY poplar name. Thankfully the number of women Alex and I know with the name is not that many. So when we began paging through the name books, Meghan was an early contender that caught our attention. We had some criteria that we used for Elizabeth and most of them hold true for Meghan as well. Here they are:

1. Traditional & easy to pronounce & spell (our last name dictated this point)
2. Has nickname potential but we like the given, full name
3. Can stand the test of time…not childish or juvenile
4. Has meaning
5. Not a family name

Meghan actually has been around for quite awhile as a pet name for Margaret but only has become popular in the mid-20th century. We loved that it was traditional, easy to pronounce and spell (although she’ll probably always have to say Megan with an “h”!) and is NOT at all common for babies right now. When we named Elizabeth her name was around 40 or 50 on the top 100, the year she was born her name moved to the top 15:/ Meghan is so far down the list that I’m sure it won’t make a come back any time soon.

Like Elizabeth, Meghan has some British ties. While this was not a prerequisite since we love Great Britain, we love that our kids hold some tie to that love as well. Meghan is a popular welsh name.

Meghan definitely has nickname potential…we call Elizabeth “lizzie mae” from time to time and we have definitely started calling Meghan “meggie joy.” Liz and Meg seem like great names for sisters to have:)

As far as meaning, well Meghan for the most part means “pearl.” And she is our pearl of joy. I take it one step further and think about what comes to mind when I think of pearl. For me a pearl is something rare, precious and unexpected because not every oyster has a pearl. For us, Meghan is our rare, precious, and unexpected joy because she came as a very much desired surprise.

And of course, for us Meghan is not a family name.

I love hearing how others go about naming their kids. It’s fascinating and I’m incredibly curious.

So, how do you go about naming your kids?

I love hearing how parents come to name their kiddos…any criteria you have in naming babies?